Ka‘ala Farms

I visited Ka‘ala Farms the other day because a friend's description of the beauty of the ancient lo‘i being restored here was irresistible. To get to Ka‘ala Farms, we were told that when we reached the fork in the road, to take the road that was more forbidding. Truthfully, to this outsider, all the roads in Waianae look a little forbidding. But Ka‘ala Farms, deep in the Waianae Valley and surprisingly lush and green, welcomed us with the sight of terraced lo‘i planted with kalo at various stages of development. Ka‘ala Farms, more of a cultural learning center than a farm, encompasses 97 acres, of which about 9 acres are actively being tended. Various programs are cobbled together here: school groups come to learn about Hawaiian culture via kalo, poi and kapa, and individuals work in the lo‘i as part of a substance abuse treatment program.


I'm under the assumption that growing kalo is a practice handed down generations upon generations. And so I'm surprised to learn that when Eric Enos, director of Ka‘ala Farms, first stumbled upon these abandoned lo‘i, he didn't know what they were. He says that he was so removed from Hawaiian culture he had to ask UH for advice on how to grow kalo. That was a while ago...now, he invites us to a bowl of kava (dipping his fingers in the bowl and sprinkling it on the aina, and then one sprinkle over each shoulder for maternal and paternal ancestors) and shows us the fish he's drying in a simple, screened sun box. The dried ahi is like candy--chewy, sweet and salty. The other fish, simply salted, he gives us to take home, and my friend (and chaffeur for the day) is not so happy about the smell it gives off in her car under the hot Waianae afternoon sun.